Epicardial fat may anteriorly produce an echo-free space that can be mistaken for pericardial fluid. We recently experienced a 67-year-old woman with prominent epicardial fat which was presented as an echogenic tumor-like mass. She underwent open pericardiostomy to relieve large amount of pericardial effusion. Operative findings revealed only prominent epicardial fat. Biopsy of the pericardial and fat tissues revealed an inflammation and normal fat cells without any malignant cell infiltration.
Adipose Tissue/ultrasonography* ; Adipose Tissue/radiography ; Adipose Tissue/pathology ; Aged ; Biopsy ; Case Report ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Heart Neoplasms/diagnosis ; Human ; Pericardial Effusion/etiology ; Pericardial Effusion/diagnosis ; Pericardium/ultrasonography* ; Pericardium/radiography ; Pericardium/pathology

Pentalogy of Cantrell was very rare congenital anomaly and represent a regional prevalence of 5.5/1 million live births. The syndrome, Cantrell's pentalogy is characterized by defects in the lower sternum with ectopia cordis, anterior diaphragm defects, midline supraumbilical abdominal wall defects, defects in the diaphragmatic pericardium, and various intracardiac defects. Anencephaly involves acrania with a degenerated mass of brain tissue. Combination of both conditions are extremely rare. We experienced a case of Cantrell's pentalogy with anencephaly detected by ultrasonography at 15 weeks 1 day menstural age and confirmed at autopsy. Thus we report a case with brief review of the literature.
Abdominal Wall ; Anencephaly* ; Autopsy ; Brain ; Diaphragm ; Ectopia Cordis ; Hernia, Umbilical ; Live Birth ; Neural Tube Defects ; Pentalogy of Cantrell* ; Pericardium ; Prevalence ; Sternum ; Ultrasonography ; Ultrasonography, Prenatal*

BACKGROUND: Current vascular prostheses are still inadequate for reconstruction of small-diameter vessels. Autologous pericardium can be a good alternative for this purpose as it already possesses good blood compatibility and shows a mechanical behavior similar to that of natural arteries. However, the clinical use of autologous pericardial tissue as a small-diameter vascular graft has limitations due to mixed outcomes from uncertain biological behavior and difficulty to gain reliable patency results in animal experiments. To study this issue, we implanted fresh and glutaraldehyde-treated autologous pericardium as small-diameter arterial grafts in dogs, and compared their time-related changes histologically. MATERIAL AND METHOD: As a form of 5mm-diameter arterial graft, one pair of autologous pericardial tissue was used for comparison between the glutaraldehyde-treated and the glutaraldehyde-untreated grafts in the bilateral carotid arteries in the same dog. The patency of the grafts were evaluated at regular intervals with Doppler ultrasonography. After the predetermined periods of 3 days, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months, the grafts in each animal were explanted. The retrieved grafts were processed for light and electron microscopic analyses following gross observation. RESULT: Of 7 animals, 2 were excluded from the study because one died postoperatively due to bleeding and the other was documented as one side of the grafts being obstructed. All 10 grafts in the remaining 5 dogs were patent. Grossly, a variable degree of thromboses were observed in the luminal surfaces of the grafts at 3 days and 2 weeks, despite good patency. Pseudointimal smooth blood-contacting surfaces were developed in the grafts at 1 month and later. By light microscopy, mesothelial cell layers of the pericardial tissue were absent in all explanted grafts. Newly formed endothelial cell layers on the blood-contacting surface were observed in both the glutaraldehyde-treated and fresh grafts at 3 months and later. The collagen fibers became degraded by fragmentation in the fresh graft at 1 month and in the glutaraldehyde-treated graft at 3 months. At 6 months, the collagen layers were no longer visible in either the glutaraldehyde-treated or fresh grafts. By electron microscopy, a greater amount of coarse fibrin fibers were observed in the fresh grafts than in the glutaraldehyde-treated grafts and, more compact and well-arrayed layers were observed in the glutaraldehyde-treated grafts than in the fresh grafts. CONCLUSION: The glutaraldehyde-treated small-diameter pericardial arterial grafts showed a better endothelialization of the blood-contacting surface and a slower fragmentation of the collagen layers than the fresh grafts, although it has yet to be proven whether these differences are so significant as to affect the patency results between the groups.
Animal Experimentation ; Animals ; Arteries ; Blood Vessel Prosthesis ; Carotid Arteries ; Collagen ; Dogs ; Endothelial Cells ; Fibrin ; Hemorrhage ; Microscopy ; Microscopy, Electron ; Pericardium ; Phenobarbital ; Thrombosis ; Transplants* ; Ultrasonography, Doppler

A retrospective analysis of clinical data of 71 patients with constrictive pericarditis (CP) diagnosed by echo-Doppler technique (mean age, 49 +/- 17) was done. In 27 patients (38%), the etiology was unknown, and the three most frequent identifiable causes were tuberculosis (23/71, 32%), cardiac surgery (8/71, 11%), and mediastinal irradiation (6/71, 9%). Pericardiectomy was performed in 35 patients (49%) with a surgical mortality of 6% (2/35), and 11 patients (15%, 11/ 71) showed complete resolution of constrictive physiology with medical treatment. Patients with transient CP were characterized by absence of pericardial calcification, shorter symptom duration, and higher incidence of fever, weight loss, and tuberculosis. The 5-yr survival rates of patients with transient CP and those undergoing pericardiectomy were 100% and 85 +/- 6%, respectively, which were significantly higher than that of patients without undergoing pericardiectomy (33 +/- 17%, p=0.0083). Mediastinal irradiation, higher functional class, low voltage in ECG, low serum albumin, and old age were the independent variables associated with a higher mortality. Tuberculosis is still the most important etio-logy of CP in Korea, and not infrequently, it may cause transient CP. Early diagnosis and decision-making using follow-up echocardiography are crucial to improve the prognosis of patients with CP.
Adult ; Aged ; Cardiac Surgical Procedures/adverse effects ; *Echocardiography, Doppler ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Human ; Male ; Mediastinum/radiation effects ; Middle Age ; Pericarditis, Constrictive/etiology/surgery/*ultrasonography ; Pericarditis, Tuberculous/ultrasonography ; Pericardium/surgery

Living donor liver transplantation is now widely accepted as a therapeutic option for adult patients suffering with various end-stage liver diseases. The major concerns for use of a right lobe (RL) graft have focused on the safety for the donor and the necessity for including the middle hepatic vein (MHV) into the graft to avoid congestion of the right anterior segment. There are 5 types of RL grafts (simple RL, modified RL, modified extended RL, extended RL with V4b preservation and extended RL), and the selection is usually determined after consideration of the graft size to the recipient, the availability of a vessel graft, the amount of hepatic venous congestion and the reconstruction technique. Various kinds of vessel grafts have been used in practice: 1) greater saphenous vein, paraumbilical vein, portal vein and internal jugular vein from the recipient, 2) various veins and arteries from the deceased donors and 3) bovine pericardium and synthetic vessels. Interposition of a vessel graft is the basic principle for MHV reconstruction. Triphasic liver computed tomography and Doppler ultrasonography are the most useful tools for posttransplant follow-up. When outflow obstruction occurs at the interposed vessel grafts that replace the MHV trunk, then radiological intervention with metallic stent insertion seems to be a feasible and reliable treatment modality. At Asan Medical Center, 200 cases of adult living donor liver transplantation using a modified RL graft revealed a > 90% 2-week patency rate regardless of the types of vessel grafts. In conclusion, it is recommended to make the MHV reconstruction resemble the original configuration of the donor's MHV trunk according to the hemodynamic principles.
Adult ; Arteries ; Chungcheongnam-do* ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemodynamics ; Hepatic Veins* ; Humans ; Hyperemia ; Jugular Veins ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Living Donors* ; Pericardium ; Portal Vein ; Saphenous Vein ; Stents ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants* ; Ultrasonography, Doppler ; Veins